I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to electronics, and more specifically to configurable routing of radio frequency signals in a wireless device.
II. Background
A wireless device (e.g., a cellular phone or a smartphone) in a wireless communication system may transmit and receive data for two-way communication. For example, the wireless device may operate in a frequency division duplexing (FDD) system or in a time division duplexing system (TDD). The wireless device may include a transmitter for data transmission and a receiver for data reception. For data transmission, the transmitter may modulate a radio frequency (RF) carrier signal with data to obtain a modulated RF signal, amplify and filter the modulated RF signal to obtain an amplified RF signal having the proper output power level, and transmit the amplified RF signal via an antenna to a base station. For data reception, the receiver may obtain a received RF signal via the antenna and may amplify, filter and process the received RF signal to recover data sent by the base station.
A wireless device may support operation over a wide frequency range. For example, the wireless device may operate in a carrier aggregation (CA) communication system in which the device includes a front end that receives multiple downlink (DL) carrier signals over a wide frequency range. The front end operates to amplify and route the received carrier signals to the appropriate demodulators for demodulation. Unfortunately, conventional front ends may utilize multiple amplifiers with each amplifier having a degeneration inductor. The large size of these inductors means the conventional front end utilizes significant circuit area. Also, if the amplifiers used to amplify the multiple carrier signals are spread across multiple chips, it may be difficult to compensate for various gain and circuit routing losses that may be incurred.
It is therefore desirable to have a front end architecture that provides efficient amplification and routing of received signals in a carrier aggregation receiver. The front end should operate to maintain excellent linearity, provide compensation for gain and routing losses, and reduce or minimize circuit area requirements over conventional front ends.